Don’t undervalue mindless tasks - why our brains need to zone out
So often, when we hear about mindfulness we are told that we should try to be present, to be in the moment, to be alert and aware to our surroundings. It can seem just one more task to add to our todo list and, while it is all undoubtedly good advice, the pressure to constantly focus can be intense. What's more, evidence increasingly shows that unbroken concentration - whether on something positive or not - can often be what's standing in the way of a truly balanced mind.
Credit: Ketut Subiyanto
All too often when we are feeling tired or drained from the hubbub of the world it can be difficult or impossible to bring attention to the present and we can feel like a failure for failing to be 'truly mindful' but achieving zen-like meditation is not possible by simply concentrating harder - it's just now how the brain works and a growing body of evidence shows the importance of simply 'zoning out'.
Sometimes, not focusing on anything can be the best way to approach mindfulness and spacing out for a few valuable moments or 'vegetating' for a while can be just the relaxation your mind needs. This might seem like a cop out but science backs up the need for all of us to take time to zone out.
Research at the Washington University School of Medicine in Saint Louis has shown that when test subjects are told to concentrate on specific tasks, activity in brain regions like the hippocampus, medial prefrontal cortex, and the precuneus are suppressed. Conversely when the same subjects were not focused on any specific task those same areas that had been deactivated started to show increased blood flow, helping to balance activity in the brain.
This network of brain regions that become active during idleness has been labelled the Default Mode Network (DMN) or the Resting State Network (RSN) and is vital to zoning out or spacing out. Neurologist Marcus Raichle at the Washington University School of Medicine notes that a wandering mind may be important to setting goals, making discoveries and living a balanced life.
"There is ongoing activity in your brain, all the time,” Dr. Raichle explains. “Problems are getting solved."
“We live in a world where we are afraid of being idle for fear of being deemed lazy,” Andrew Smart, author of Autopilot: The Art & Science of Doing Nothing states. “Not only that, but busyness is considered a status symbol. If every waking minute is accounted for by something, you’re somehow important. This is backwards. People prefer to be idle but in modern society the time for it seems to be on a decline—and we are more apt to feel guilty for nothing.”
More and more evidence suggest that taking the time to disconnect is not just a tool to recuperate but a valuable way of rebalancing the brain, balancing blood flows and allowing the space to develop creative ideas and new approaches.
“The autopilot knows where you really want to go, and what you really want to do. The only way to find out what your autopilot knows is to stop flying the plane and let your autopilot guide you.” Smart explains.
Taking the time to make downtime with an eye pillow is an excellent way to refocus and not only will leave feeling refreshed and ready for the next challenge but can lead to some of the best, creative ideas.
The science may be new but these ideas have been around for a long time and the 19th century poet and novelist Rainer Maria Rilke put it perfectly when he noted “Our actions themselves, even if they do not take place until later, are nothing more than the last reverberations of a vast moment that occurs within us during idle days.”
Rainer Maria Rilke
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